If you’re looking for an easy pre-dinner drinks snack then this dish is a winner! Sit near it and you’ll look like the most popular person at the party.

Honeyed Pears and Walnuts with Port & Gorgonzola

Hands-on time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

Author: www.twosuitcasesandatinpot.com

Recipe type: Snack

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 5 firm pears – cored, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 heaped tablespoons honey
• 125ml walnuts, chopped
• 125ml Port (Hanepoot or Jerepico will also get the job done, but the Port makes it really pretty)
• 125g or more of any blue veined cheese
• Melba toast or crackers for serving or puff pastry if you have the energy

Method

1. In a saucepan, heat the butter over a moderately high heat. Add the pears and honey and fry until golden and sticky. Add the Port and boil until reduced to a syrup. Add the walnuts, heat through and allow to cool. Once at room temperature, crumble in the blue cheese and stir until just combined. Now you can do one of three things. Four if you count munching the whole lot straight from the pan before it can even get to the table.
2. Serve at room temperature with melba toast or crackers.
3. Warm in a 180˚C oven until the cheese just starts to melt and serve with melba toast or crackers.
4. Or, my personal favourite, cut puff pastry into squares (roughly – and I say roughly because I never seem to be able to cut two squares to the same size – 5 x 5cm squares). Score the pastry square all the way around about 5mm from the edge. This is so that the edge will puff up and contain the filling when baking, so don’t be tempted to skip this step. The time you save skipping this will be spent trying to scrub the burnt filling off your prized oven pan. Spoon teaspoons full of the mix onto the squares and bake at 200˚C until golden (around 20 minutes). When you do it this way the pear mixture goes all caramel and gooey on the edges. Very moreish!